Odor or odorous material in a fluid often has an adverse effect if the fluid is used in industrial applications. For example, sulfur dioxide or a mercaptan, which may be odorous in a fluid, may induce metal corrosion when the fluid is used in applications requiring the contacting of the fluid with a metal or metal surface. These fluids can be a gas, an aqueous liquid, a non-aqueous liquid, or combinations of two or more thereof such as, for example, a sulfolane compound.
Sulfolane compounds are useful in a variety of industrial applications such as, for example, as solvent in electronic operation, in pesticidal compositions, intermediates in the production of other organic chemicals, selective solvents to separate aromatic compounds from petroleum fractions, and selective solvents in alkylation of olefins.
Sulfolane compounds are generally produced by catalytic hydrogenation of the corresponding sulfolene compounds. The sulfolene compounds are produced by the reaction of a conjugated diene such as, for example, 1,3-butadiene, and sulfur dioxide at elevated temperatures.
However, the sulfolene compounds thus-produced are generally unstable and tend to decompose at mildly elevated temperatures into an unsaturated organic compound and sulfur dioxide. Furthermore, when the sulfolene compounds are used to produce the corresponding sulfolane compounds by catalytic hydrogenation, the initiation of hydrogenation reaction may also increase the temperature enough to result in some decomposition of the sulfolene. Some of these decomposed products often contribute to undesirable odor of the final sulfolane product. If the odorous compound is present in the resulting sulfolane compounds, the sulfolane compounds become undesirable for use in industrial applications. The undesirable odor must be removed or substantially reduced. Therefore, there is an ever-increasing need to develop effective methods of reducing odor in sulfolane compounds thereby greatly improving the appeal of sulfolane compounds for industrial applications.